Oprichnina
Perhaps no element of Ivograd is so misunderstood, so shrouded in mystery, as the guardians of the Prince's Law and protectors of order, the Oprichnina. The Oprichnina It is often said that a city has a feel, a mood, a life of its own. It is more then the spray of the sea and the perfume of rotten fish that give Marpoor its quality, and more then the great stone vaults account for the character of the great cities of the dwarves. Ivograd has more, for Ivograd is alive in a way that no other city of men or elves or dwarves is: Ivograd has a voice. Many, in fact, for when the Oprichnina speaks, it is Ivograd itself that speaks. Since the founding of the city, the Great Prince has been served by two forces, two strong pillars on which the foundation of the city rests. The first is the Prince's Guard; professional soldiers that serve no master other then the Great Prince, salaried, garrisoned and boarded at the expense of the Prince and supported by the taxes and tariffs he levies. Their duty is the protection of the broad roads, the rivers and canals used for trade, as well as the usual task of keeping in check the various uncivilized menaces that lurk far outside the walls of a great city. Though they may man the walls of the great city, it is there that the authority of the Guard ends. Within the walls of the city it is the Oprichnina that holds sway, and if ever the Guard must enter under arms, it is under the Oprichnina's authority and supervision. The Oprichnina, literally “the Others”, or “those Set Apart”, are called many other names. The Thought Police, Grim Judges, Bloodless Bastards, Pebbles and Freaks, among other names are in common usage. Mostly though the are called “Sir”... Of the origins of the Oprachnina no one who knows will say, and those who say certainly do not know, but they are as old as the city itself. Some say that the first Great Prince, Ivon Ivonavitch, in despair as he led the shattered Bolgur houses into exile, made a pact with the ancient gods for a means to control his fractious peoples and bring justice among them. Others say that Great Prince Ivon saved a noble court of the Fey from some unspeakable fate, and in their gratitude they bestowed the Prince with a gift of stone soldiers. Still others mutter that Fel powers struck a bargain with the Prince, that the Oprichnina extract some fearsome payment in the night from the city... What is not in doubt among the people is that the Oprichnina is not composed of men or elves or any breed of flesh. The Oprachni, as members of both the organization and the race are known, have the appearance of living statutes. Only those high in the Prince's service or the ruling Boyars know that from pits beneath the Oprichnina monastery, opening that expose the bones of the earth itself, there spring fully formed the vast majority of the Oprachni. The Oprachni The Oprachni are alive, alike and yet not alike as to other beings: they take no breath, no sleep, they eat and drink not to fuel their bodies, but only to provide the raw material to repair. Yet for all that they are alive, for they have each one of them a soul, and reason and freedom to choose right and wrong, good and ill. In appearance the Oprachni are like a man (or woman), but greatly varied, as are the races, breeds and families of man. All are unmistakable at close glance, for their flesh is stone, through an through. Some are so composed as to require tight inspection to discern, with stone flesh in the shades of living men, others bear colors and markings that immediately mark them as mineral rather then meat. The differences in appearances are connected to differences in temperament: the thoughts, actions, moods and deeds of all the hundreds of thousands of citizens of the great city leave an echo, a particle that remains behind. Like drops of water in a cloud, ready to freeze, sometimes a thought connects to another, and another, and a personality is created, new made from from what came before, and then it is birthed from the stone, a completely developed Oprachni. All Oprachni feel a connection to the city, and so are taken by those that came before and taught in the monastery of the Oprichnina. There they are taught the laws of the City, and their native powers are developed. Though all feel a connection to the city and a desire to serve it, for it is the wellspring from which they flow, not all are alike in temperament. It is during their training they refine not only their talents, but the role they can serve. Oprachni, though made of living stone, are oddly not noted for exceptional strength. Rather they are masters of the mental arts: they are peerless arcanists, and the foremost practitioners of the psionic arts. Some even develop the ability to call upon the vast psionic reserves of the city itself as a warlock calls upon their patron. All possess certain traits, regardless of their training: telepathy (a fine and valuable ability for those involved in enforcing criminal justice!) and the ability to explosively disassemble themselves to reform a short distance away. More then one confrontation ends before it begins when a number of Oprachni appear out of sudden explosions of stone shards! As stated above, beneath the Prince the Oprichnina alone has authority within the walls of Ivograd: it is their responsibility to see to the laws of the Prince. They serve as investigators, peacekeepers and when necessary, enforcers of the justice of the Prince. In times of great strife when the numbers of the Oprichnina are insufficient the Great Prince will make allowance that units of the Guard will be deputized beneath the Oprichnina. In this way Justice is served to the city, from the hands and judgments of the only beings within the city that may be said to be impartial. Note that it is the'' vast majority'' of the Oprachni that are born of the stones, there are a very few rare exceptions...